The Muse is Back from Holiday...

...I think. She's quite the world traveler. This time, she decided to go to Saint Kitts in the Caribbean, with side trips to Egypt circa 2000 BCE and Rome circa 50 BCE. She came back wearing an elegant Italian noblewoman's gown, complete with beaded headdress and corset. Custom-made, she said, from the same dressmaker who outfitted Lucrezia Borgia.

"Oh, and since your latest writing challenge is supposed to be set in Renaissance-era Italy, I got you all sorts of goodies," she trilled. She reached into her beaded handbag (bigger on the inside, than the outside, of course) and pulled out a scribble book from Leonardo da Vinci ("He won't miss it," she reassured me), several written Papal bulls from various Popes ("the proclamations, not the animals."), and an autographed sketch by Botticelli ("Tried to get a marble bust by Michaelangelo, but they wouldn't let it through Customs.").

I'm envious of her, but it's hard to be mad at her when she gives me this child-like smile that lights her eyes up from the depths of her soul. That's how she is: fickle, adventurous, curious, eclectic and wholly fun. It reminds me of when I was a child. I wanted to travel the world, meet all sorts of people, learn every language and custom.

I may not be able to do it in reality, but my Muse keeps that hope alive.


All original writing and art copyright A. Dameron 2000-2011

An anecdote about Picasso...Let your Imagination Run Wild!

This story is credited to Robert and Michele Root-Bernstein

"One day, Picasso took a train trip and, as happens on such occasions, engaged in conversation with the gentleman seated next to him. When the man learned to whom he was speaking, he began grumbling about the ways how modern art distorts reality. According to one account, Picasso demanded to know what was a faithful representation of reality.

"The man produced a wallet-sized photo and said, "There! That's a real picture--that's what my wife really looks like!"

"Picasso looked at it carefully from several angles, turning it up and down and sideways, and said, "She's awfully small. And flat."

Moral: Without imagination, the world is indeed as flat and small as the picture Picasso examined."

What would we be without our imagination? Where would we be? Columbus wouldn't have proved the world was round, Neil Armstrong wouldn't have stepped foot on the moon, and Henry Ford wouldn't have dreamed up the Model T. We need to encourage our children to dream about the future, not stifle their creativity. Imagine what they could accomplish if their imagination were allowed to flourish! 

A thought to take with you today. 

All original writing and art copyright A. Dameron 2000-2010